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Double Bass Tragedy Struck!!

#21
KSB - Ken Smith said:
Sam, I was trying to make a point. He is telling others how to waste their time with cheap fixes and ruin their Bass. If he owned a Valuable Bass and did any of the things he suggests, he would be extreemly sorry and fast.

It's easy to give advice but if you havent done it, don't suggest things you have never tried or wouldn't do youself on your best Instrument.

I don't expect anyone to buy a Bass for 50-80K just to mess it up. But if he had a bass like that, he would not try these crazy ideas.
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I got your point the first time, it good sound advice.

Fortunately this is not the case with this bass. I doubt its worth take it to a luthier, the neck was cheap wood and the fingerboard was very uneven painted and slipery. The nut was quite bad also. I think I can get a similar bass for about $600+.

I feel I have already outgrown this bass so paying $400+ to get it back to its original state, is no worth it.

Here are my options, it can be an oportunity to learn a little more about bass setup, which I am enjoy more every day. I do want to upgrade.

choices:

1) Get one of bob g's necks and ebony fingerboards place them on this bass. ~ $300 place it my self.

2) Keep the neck and just replace the fingerboard. ~ $180 place it my self.

3) Keep both the neck and the figerboard. Place it my self.

4) Take to the luthier so he fixes it --price???


I am not finantially ready yet for a serious bass right now. I just need a practice bass
 
#22
KSB - Ken Smith said:
It's easy to give advice but if you havent done it, don't suggest things you have never tried or wouldn't do youself on your best Instrument.
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Ditto, ditto, ditto, I thought I was the only one that was COMPLETELY vomiting at this veneering idea. I suppose the thread just needed some time.

Chris, It's not about being a snob and shooting down ideas, what SS gave as his "advice" was crapo and useless, it had to be said so no one would even think about trying it. What is also very misleading is his wordiness that may make someone think he knows his stuff. Obviously not the case, I suppose that can be the trouble with the internet.

Now he is going to do this to his bass just despite us and tell us after that it made all the difference in the world. I even offered to loose moneyon a good board to save the hassle.....whatever use the damn veneer.
 
#23
I would just like to say that I got my finger board off my bass last week in ten minutes with small screwdriver a ruler and my hands with no damage what-so-ever to the neck, the fingerboard which looks to me like either baltic maple or possibly beech [it looks like both for some odd reason] on the other hand it is toast, but then it always was. The new finger board is a very heavy piece of Morado I got from Larry Davis which is harder then the last ebony fret board I got from stu-mac has now been carved [with "hand planes" and a "scraper" for most of the work, although a gouge, a bandsaw and some sandpaper were also used] and is now ready to be glued on.

I just though I'd share. :)
 
#24
uptonbass said:
Chris, It's not about being a snob and shooting down ideas, what SS gave as his "advice" was crapo and useless, it had to be said so no one would even think about trying it.
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Gary - I reed english purty good, an I done seen that. ;) My objection was simply to the word "valuable" used in the context of the post I quoted. I'd sooner put veneer on my Johnson than my fingerboard...
 
#26
Now he is going to do this to his bass just despite us and tell us after that it made all the difference in the world. I even offered to loose moneyon a good board to save the hassle.....whatever use the damn veneer.
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Thanks anyway, Gary. I found a couple of USA sources for quartered ebony veneer, no prices listed. Someone was curious??
http://www.reellumber.com/
or
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

You know, if the veneer doesn't work, I'll still have the option of replacing the fingerboard (probably not with the one from Gary ...). It's not like you'd even run into this on a "valuable bass". It would have ebony in the first place;- by it's nature this is a suggestion for a laminated instrument with a mystery wood FB. This suggestion is consistent with the construction of the rest of the bass, which is all laminated.

Incidentally on the lutes, the ebony is wrapped around the curved back of the neck, not the flat fret board. That was some other wood.

I don't expect the fingerboard lamination to do more than eliminate the excess camber and replace the wood removed with a layer of flatter, stiffer wood. I'm looking for a mechanical difference, not a tonal difference. That is an easy difference to predict and if that is accomplished I'll be happy. As far as putting a spruce laminate on the top to make it looked carved, well, the maker already did that and it still doesn't looked carved, just like the FB won't look like solid ebony when I'm done.

I expected this to be shouted down. It is something the experienced here haven't tried, as well as the inexeperienced. That is just this forum. In total, the critics think it won't work, but don't know. The proponent thinks it will but doesn't know by direct experience. Until I have verified the process, I have no more to offer.
 
#28
Aaron Noguer said:
I would just like to say that I got my finger board off my bass last week in ten minutes with small screwdriver a ruler and my hands with no damage what-so-ever to the neck, the fingerboard which looks to me like either baltic maple or possibly beech [it looks like both for some odd reason] on the other hand it is toast, but then it always was. The new finger board is a very heavy piece of Morado I got from Larry Davis which is harder then the last ebony fret board I got from stu-mac has now been carved [with "hand planes" and a "scraper" for most of the work, although a gouge, a bandsaw and some sandpaper were also used] and is now ready to be glued on.

I just though I'd share. :)
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Sweet. Morado is also known as Pau Ferro. I made a fingerboard & tailpiece out of it for my 'cello back in spring, I used mostly hand tools as well.

If/when I change the FB on my cheapo bass, I'd use Pau Ferro,too. :cool:
 
#30
M_A_T_T said:
Sweet. Morado is also known as Pau Ferro. I made a fingerboard & tailpiece out of it for my 'cello back in spring, I used mostly hand tools as well.

If/when I change the FB on my cheapo bass, I'd use Pau Ferro,too. :cool:
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I remember that tailpiece you did, I thought it looked great. I'm using Padauk for mine and have been sunning it so that it is now real dark. Turned out nice, I went with a French shape.
 
#31
BTW, the bass got fixed finally about 3 weeks ago. It looks and sounds great!! better than before, which is sort of strange.

We fixed it ourself. Little by little with lots of patients. A lot of time was spend in the final cosmetis aspects, which is the part I cared about least. Thankfully, my friend Jesus had to the paciente to take care most of the work and had it looking like new. He has had lots of experience with other instruments, mostly percusion, but never with something like a string instrument. I was guiding him with your advice and some books I got!!

Thanks a lot again.

I will post some pictures soon.

I have been so busy playing that I have not had a chance to write. I have taken a giant leap arco wise in these 3 weeks. The thing actually sounds beautifull now, no more stick of pain. The arco is such a delicate thing, you need to be so calm and so sensible, I actually cry when I am running up and down that G string. :crying: . Amazing.

there is only one thing I need to fix now. The C on my G string buzzes. It seems that the figerboard is not too even there. Any suggestions to level it some? I dont what to raise the string anymore.

thanks
 
#33
Samie said:
there is only one thing I need to fix now. The C on my G string buzzes. It seems that the figerboard is not too even there. Any suggestions to level it some? I dont what to raise the string anymore.
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One has to be so careful with that sort of thing. Try to take the buzz off the C alone and you might end up causing problems in surrounding areas of the fingerboard.

My philosophy is to go to a luthier (in my case, Arnold Schnitzer) whenever anything is wrong. I will not touch a soundpost, I will not apply any glue to my own instrument, I will not cut or sand any part of my instrument. Heck, I am hardly comfortable straightening the bridge when it begins to tilt (and with Dominants on there, it usually doesn't take long).
 
#35
Freddels said:
Yes. He is a friend to many.
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lol not that Jesus!!!

This is an earthly jesus!!!

The thing is that we have managed to fix whole broken off neck and a unglued body. We have setup the bridge and placed the endpin ensemble. We have set up the nut and fixed minor cosmetic probs. We even straighten up the neck as it was slanted a little before it came off.

It does not feel right to take it to the luthier now!! might as well keep on forward. :hiding:
 
#36
Veneers are a period instrument repair, right? Nnick tells me so, so it must be true. And to paraphrase Ken "Smitty" Smith during dinner at the VSA, "There's a reason it's called a period, in that it's over now".

Sure, it was done in Strad's day perhaps, back when they cured disease with leaches. :p
 

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